BA.2.86

SARS-CoV-2

BA.2.86, also known as the Pirola variant, is an Omicron subvariant of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. BA.2.86 is notable for having more than thirty mutations on its spike protein.[1] The subvariant, which was first detected in a sample from 24 July 2023,[2] is of concern due to it having made an evolutionary jump on par with the first appearance of the more contagious but generally less virulent Omicron lineage.[3][4] It is a mutation of BA.2, itself a very early mutation in the Omicron family.[4] BA.2.86 was designated as a variant under monitoring by the World Health Organization on 17 August 2023.[5]

Affected countries

BA.2.86 was first reported by Denmark and Israel.[1][6] On 18 August 2023, when only six cases had been reported from four countries (Denmark, Israel, the United Kingdom and the United States), the British healthcare authorities noted that its almost simultaneous appearance in several countries still operating detailed genomic surveillance indicated that it likely already was spreading more widely internationally,[6] a view also shared by other experts.[7] There has been an overall significant decrease in sequencing (ten times as many samples were uploaded to GISAID in August 2022 compared to July 2023), reducing the possibility of tracking variants globally.[1][3]

As of 30 August, 24 cases of BA.2.86 had been detected in Canada, Denmark, Israel, Portugal, South Africa, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States (three states, including one detected in an airport in a traveller who had just arrived from Japan).[8] As of 2 September, it had also been detected in wastewater in a number of places where not yet confirmed directly in samples from people, including one U.S. state (earliest U.S. detection in a wastewater sample from late July),[3][9] Switzerland (where it made up c. 2% of coronavirus particles in a wastewater sample from one region in early August),[3][10] Norway,[11] Germany, Spain, Thailand[8] and Hong Kong[12].

Immunity, contagiousness and virulence

Although previous exposure (via infection or vaccine) to COVID-19 is considered likely to provide some protection from severe disease from BA.2.86, its high number of mutations means that it may be able to partially evade earlier immunity.[1][3][13] As of late August, there had been too few known cases over a relatively short period to accurately evaluate its symptoms and severity,[1] but there were indications that it may be similar to other circulating variants: In three early cases from Denmark and one from Canada, the local authorities reported that symptoms had been similar to those typically seen in COVID-19,[8] none of the small number of globally known cases were reported to have died,[14] and in parts of the U.S. where it had been detected there had not been a disproportionate increase in hospitalizations.[3]

Initial lab results from China and Sweden indicate that the variant is neither as contagious nor immune-evasive as some scientists had feared, and is no longer regarded as "the second coming of Omicron". The Variant Technical Group of the UK's Health Security Agency has as of September not reclassified it from a variant being monitored to one of concern.[15]

Both Moderna and Pfizer have stated that their COVID-19 vaccines targeted at the omicron variant remain effective against BA.2.86.[16]

Nomenclature

Some news media have used the colloquial name "pirola" to describe the BA.2.86 variant.[17][18] The name is reported to have been created by a social media user by combining the names of the Greek letters pi and rho, which follow the letter omicron in the Greek alphabet.[19]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "Risk Assessment Summary for SARS CoV-2 Sublineage BA.2.86 | CDC". www.cdc.gov. 23 August 2023. Archived from the original on 29 August 2023. Retrieved 30 August 2023.
  2. ↑ "Tracking SARS-CoV-2 variants". World Health Organization. 17 August 2023. Archived from the original on 9 June 2021. Retrieved 30 August 2023.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "This latest covid variant could be the best yet at evading immunity". Washington Post. 25 August 2023. Archived from the original on 25 August 2023. Retrieved 30 August 2023.
  4. 1 2 "Highly mutated COVID virus variant BA.2.86 showing up in multiple countries". CBC. 22 August 2023. Archived from the original on 30 August 2023. Retrieved 30 August 2023.
  5. ↑ "COVID-19 Weekly Epidemiological Update (Edition 156 published 17 August 2023)" (PDF). World Health Organization. 17 August 2023. Archived (PDF) from the original on 16 September 2023. Retrieved 30 August 2023.
  6. 1 2 "Risk assessment for SARS-CoV-2 variant V-23AUG-01 (or BA.2.86)". UK Health Security Agency. 18 August 2023. Archived from the original on 29 August 2023. Retrieved 30 August 2023.
  7. ↑ "New Covid variant causing concern among scientists detected in London". The Guardian. 18 August 2023. Archived from the original on 29 August 2023. Retrieved 30 August 2023.
  8. 1 2 3 "New COVID variant BA.2.86 in at least four states — what to know about the highly mutated strain". CBS News. 30 August 2023. Archived from the original on 29 August 2023. Retrieved 30 August 2023.
  9. ↑ "New BA.2.86 COVID variant detected in NYC wastewater". NBC New York. 29 August 2023. Archived from the original on 30 August 2023. Retrieved 30 August 2023.
  10. ↑ "Pirola, la variante ha «40 mutazioni e due da monitorare». Gli esperti: «Potrebbe essere un Covid diverso»". www.ilmessaggero.it. August 28, 2023. Archived from the original on August 30, 2023. Retrieved September 14, 2023.
  11. ↑ "Ny koronavirusvariant påvist i Norge i Norge". Norwegian Institute of Public Health. 30 August 2023. Archived from the original on 4 September 2023. Retrieved 5 September 2023.
  12. ↑ "Latest Situation of COVID-19 Activity (as of Sep 6,2023)" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2023-09-16. Retrieved 2023-09-14.
  13. ↑ Reddy, Sumathi (28 August 2023). "This Fall's Covid Variant Might Really Be Different". The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on 30 August 2023. Retrieved 30 August 2023.
  14. ↑ "COVID-19 Weekly Epidemiological Update (Edition 158 published 1 September 2023)" (PDF). World Health Organization. 1 September 2023. Archived (PDF) from the original on 16 September 2023. Retrieved 1 September 2023.
  15. ↑ "Early lab tests suggest new Covid-19 variant BA.2.86 may be less contagious and less immune-evasive than feared". CNN. 3 September 2023. Archived from the original on 4 September 2023. Retrieved 3 September 2023.
  16. ↑ Constantino, Annika Kim (2023-09-06). "Moderna, Pfizer say updated Covid vaccines were effective against highly mutated BA.2.86 variant in trials". CNBC. Archived from the original on 2023-09-10. Retrieved 2023-09-11.
  17. ↑ Looi, Mun-Keat (2023-08-24). "Covid-19: Scientists sound alarm over new BA.2.86 "Pirola" variant". BMJ. 382: 1964. doi:10.1136/bmj.p1964. ISSN 1756-1833. PMID 37620014. Archived from the original on 2023-09-14. Retrieved 2023-09-14.
  18. ↑ Browne, Grace (11 September 2023). "Yes, There's a New Covid Variant. No, You Shouldn't Panic". Wired UK. ISSN 1357-0978. Archived from the original on 2023-09-12. Retrieved 2023-09-13.
  19. ↑ Hassan, Beril Naz; Hewitt, Sian (2023-09-07). "What is Pirola? Updated vaccine to counter Covid variant detected in UK and globally". Evening Standard. Archived from the original on 2023-09-12. Retrieved 2023-09-11.

Further reading

Outbreak map Archived 2023-08-30 at the Wayback Machine with locations of the first 23 positive samples chronologically

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